Kevin McCarthy ignores China’s threats to meet with Taiwan’s president
Kevin McCarthy meets Taiwan’s president: Speaker of the House of Representatives ignores China’s fury and holds historic meeting – while Beijing holds military exercises and directly THREATENS Republicans involved in the visit
- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy greets Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California
- Comes despite warnings from China not to go ahead with the meeting
- Chinese boats were spotted in the China Sea around Taiwan on Wednesday
Kevin McCarthy greeted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in his home state of California on Wednesday amid mounting threats from China warning the two leaders against bilateral talks.
The House Speaker leads a bipartisan group of lawmakers to meet with Tsai and her delegation as they wrap up a highly controversial and closely watched tour of Central and North America.
A crop plane circled the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California carrying a banner opposing Taiwanese autonomy, reading, “One China. Taiwan belongs to China.’
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy greeted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, despite warnings from China not to proceed with the meeting
The carefully orchestrated journey was branded by Tsai’s team as her “transit” across the United States via California to Taiwan on her way back from official assignments in Central America.
Meanwhile, a group of about 100 Taiwanese supporters gathered outside the library with signs, waving banners and beating drums as they chanted in favor of Tsai’s visit.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Wednesday, coinciding with Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy, that a group of Chinese aircraft carriers appeared in the waters off the island’s southeast coast.
China intensified its anti-gathering demonstrations, signaling that the US continues to support the small island nation’s autonomy from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
McCarthy will deliver bilateral remarks to the press following his meeting with Tsai on Wednesday, followed by a press conference at the Ronald Reagan Library, the site of the historic meeting.
The ministry provided two photos of the alleged boat presence. One is a grainy black and white aerial image of the carrier and the other of a Taiwanese sailor looking at another unidentified ship in the distance.
Chinese boats in waters off Taiwan are broadcasting a clear threat on Wednesday after China warned of unspecified retaliation if McCarthy and other lawmakers go ahead with their meetings.
The meeting comes despite warnings from China not to go ahead, and Taiwan’s defense ministry claimed on Wednesday that Chinese boats were off the coast in the aftermath of the meeting.
“The Chinese communists continue to send planes and ships to invade the seas and airspace around Taiwan,” the ministry said in a statement about the actions.
“In addition to posing a substantial threat to our national security, it also destroys the status quo of regional security and stability,” it added. “Such actions are by no means the actions of a responsible modern country.”
Beijing continues to claim Taiwan as its territory and insists that it should be recognized as such by the international community.
When then Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi met Tsai in Taiwan last August, the CCP also staged war games around the island.
Tsai’s carefully orchestrated journey across America has been branded her “transit” across the United States via California to Taiwan on her way back from official engagements in Central America.
The Taiwanese president reportedly met with Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader in the Democratic House, while he was “in transit” through his home state of New York.